backyard playground surfaces

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

Our backyard playset, which came with our house, is a mess--bare dirt is visible in several places, the rubber mulch keeps getting in the grass, the swing mats have been pulled up, etc.

Anyone have experience fixing these up? Has anyone used rubber tiles, or are they prohibitively expensive? I don't really know where to start in even learning more about the problem.

[Greg]

I would use wood chips.  Not beauty bark, but wood chips from a tree service.  They smell great and start out very fluffy, and when they compost down you can use them in planting beds and get new chips.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

Good tip about looking into a tree service for wood mulch! I wouldn't mind that getting into the grass so much. Or worry so much that some child will eat it.

So, for anyone who's done this... How gigantic a project is it? The area is under 400 square feet. Is it pretty self-explanatory or are there likely to be unanticipated hassles?

It seems like it should go like this:

1. Shovel up rubber mulch and dispose of it somehow.
2. Yank up what remains of the nasty old ground cover.
3. Lay down new ground cover.
4. Lay down mulch.

But I've never attempted anything similar and I don't know, for instance, how many wheelbarrow loads of rubber mulch I should expect to wind up with.

Also, are swing mats essential?

[Greg]

That sounds right. I don't know what a swing mat is! Sounds like an unnecessary accessory sold to people who buy play sets.